Sunday, August 24, 2014

The Why of the JFK Assassination

The Why of the JFK Assassination

John Delane Williams

L.
Fletcher Prouty, author of The Secret Team [1] and a special consultant to
Oliver Stone for the movie JFK, had JFK:
The CIA, Vietnam and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy [2] published
before his death in 2001. This book was an attempt to exhaustively address the
Why of the assassination. He begins his enquiry at the end of World War II,
setting the context for what would culminate in the assassination of the American
President in 1963.

Beginnings of the Cold War

Prouty
was involved in a couple of incidents in 1944-1945, that didn't make much sense
at the time, but in retrospect, seemed to be part of the starting of the Cold
War. The first incident occurred in
August, 1944. Prouty was scheduled to be the chief pilot for 30 transport
planes which flew 750 American POWs and Nazi intelligence officers andtheir voluminous Eastern European
intelligence files from Syria to Cairo. A number of the Americans had one or
both legs amputated to keep them from fleeing from their Balkan captors. The
Nazi intelligence officers were taken out of the Balkans prior to the arrival
of the Soviet armies. It seemed very strange to Prouty that the United States
was helping their enemies (the Nazis) escape from our allies, the Soviets. This
seemed to be an unusual action during a time of war.[3] The second occurrence was the shipping,
on September 2, 1945, of an enormous amount of leftover armaments to Ho Chi Min
in Hanoi, and to Korea. [4] In retrospect these two simultaneous events proved
to be ominous regarding future warfare of the United States armed forces.

The
Eisenhower Years

As
President Truman would later lament, he started the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) out of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). [5] President Eisenhower
inherited the CIA when he took office. During the Eisenhower years, the CIA
fomented much ill in the world, and one might think it was partly because they
either couldn't hear or understand what Eisenhower said.On January 8, 1954, President Eisenhower was
meeting with the National Security Council where he stated that he was bitterly
opposed to placing U.S. troops in Indochina. Present at the meeting was Allen
W. Dulles, Director of the CIA. Six days later, his brother John Foster Dulles,
Secretary of State, at a National Security Council meeting, suggested a
guerrilla operation against the Vietminh formed government of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam. Secretary Dulles suggested we could raise hell in Vietnam
at a relatively low cost. [6]

The
incursion into Vietnam was only one of several CIA operations during the
Eisenhower years. There was also the replacement of President Quirino of the
Philippines by Ramon Magsaysay, and the replacement of the murdered Premier
Muhammad Mossadegh of Iran with the Shah of Iran. [7]

For
Eisenhower, one of clearest disregarding of an explicit presidential order was
the order to cease all over flights of Soviet Russia prior to his summit with
Nikita Khrushchev. Nevertheless the CIA had Gary Powers attempt the then
longest U-2 flight, from Pakistan to Norway. On May 1, 1960 engine failure
caused him to land near Sverdlovsk, jettisoning the talks with Premier
Khrushchev. [8]

The Report from
Iron Mountain

In
1967, Dial Press published a supposedly suppressed government document that
caused quite a stir. Some claimed that the report was bogus. Others found it
either to be welcome, or conversely extremely unwelcome. The study was
purported to have begun in 1963 during the Kennedy administration; when the 15
members disbanded, they agreed that that the report would remain secret. A John
Doe reportedly handed the report to Leonard Lewin. [9] The report addressed the
issue, how would society handle the situation where "peace broke
out". Several different scenarios were considered, none of which would be
considered to be desirable, sometimes for economic reasons, other times because
the solutions were undesirable (for example, the reintroduction of a more
updated version of slavery). [10] The conclusion includes "Planning or
rationalizing the war system, on the other hand [as compared to peace],to
ensure the effectiveness of its major stabilizing functions is not only more
promising in respect to anticipated results, but is essential; we can no longer
take for granted that it will continue to serve our purposes well because it
always has." [11] The report in fact was a satirical hoax, as Lewin, its
author, revealed in 1972. Because it seemed to logically arrive at the
absurdity of a peace economy, it arrived at the war economy as the logical
solution to the future. Needless to say, the report (though bogus) was well
received in some quarters. The Defense Department ordered 5000 paperbacks for
some purpose. "A handful of far right zealots and eccentrics predictably
applauded the report's conclusions." [12] Its import here is that the thinking dovetails
closely with the reality that confronts us, since Hiroshima, has dramatically
changed. "There can no longer be an all-out,go-for-broke-type warfare there has been down
through the ages, a war that leads to the meaningful victory for one side and
abject defeat for the other. Witness what has been called warfare in Korea and
Vietnam..." [13]

Hegemony
in Vietnam

As indicated earlier,
the road to Vietnam (the American Vietnam War) began in 1945 with the delivery
of armaments to Ho Chi Minh, the premier of the newly declared Democratic Republic of Vietnam. By 1946, the
French had taken over military commitments to Vietnam. The U.S. began supplying
military aid to the French, thus having armed both sides in this conflict. By
1949, the war had becomea major
international issue. The French were intent on getting out of Vietnam, in a
military sense. They had set up the closest thing to a government in the South
part of Vietnam. The French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in May of 1954 by
the Vietminh. The former Emperor, Bao Dai asked Ngo Dinh Diem to be the premier
of this new country (South Vietnam); Diem assumed the office on July 7, 1954,
and was elected President in October, 1954. The only thing the “government” of
South Vietnam had was a president. There was no congress, no army, no police,
no tax system. What structure of government that existed was provided by the
remaining French. Commerce functioned reasonably well because Chinese traders
would serve as a conduit for buying farm products and bringing merchandise in
exchange for the farm products sold; Diem got rid of the French and the Chinese
traders. Also, 1.1 million Tonkinese, presumably Catholic, had been transported(by the U.S.) or walked from the North to
South Vietnam. Their destination was the Saigon area. No provisions were made
for this mass of people, and many resorted tobanditry to survive. From 1954 and beyond, the CIA was involved with
much of the goings on in South Vietnam, and in particular, the moving of the
Tonkinese to South Vietnam. [14]

Many of the changes
were seemingly not in the interests of helping South Vietnam as a country,
insofar as South Vietnam had much of a chance of successfully becoming a
country. While the installing of Diem as president was questionable, the three
major strikes against the new country were 1) Having 1.1 million Tonkinese
“Catholics” move into the area around Saigon, without providing them the means
to begin their lives in a productive way, thus moving many of them to become
looters of the native peoples of South Vietnam. The new Diem government had no
resources to be of much help to the new immigrants; and 2), Forcing out both
the Chinese traders and the French persons who formed some degree of structurefor the populace in the South. [15]

These tragic decisions
most likely were at least agreed to by the CIA. These decisions were not in the
best interest of working toward the survival of the new nation of South
Vietnam.But perhaps that was not their
purpose. Prouty infers that, consistent with The Report from IronMountain,
the goal is to continue spending on expendable military war materials. [16]

Bay of Pigs- The
Decision to Not Allow a Second Air Raid

The Bay of Pigs has had
several book length treatments; one of more definitive, in terms of JFK's
involvement, is by Peter Wyden. [17] One critical point is the decision to call
off the planned bombing of the remaining three Cuban aircraft. Prouty stated,
"But between the time of Kennedy's approval at 1:45 P.M. Sunday and the
time for the release of the B-26's from the Hidden Valley Base at Puerto
Cabezas, Nicaragua, the vital dawn air strike to destroy Castro's three
remaining T-33 jets was called off by President Kennedy's special assistant for
national security affairs, McGeorge Bundy, in a telephone call to General
Cabell." [18]

If Bundy did in fact
make such a call, it is inconceivable that he would have done so except on the
explicit orders of President Kennedy. Wyden paints a very different scenario. Shortly
after the Presidential approval of the second bombings to eliminate the
remaining three Cuban jets, McGeorge Bundy called General Cabell. "Bundy
said no air strikes could be launched until after the Brigade had secured the
Giron air strip, and strikes would ostensibly be launched from there. This was
an order from the President." [19]

After Bundy's
conversation with Cabell, Secretary Dean
Rusk received General Cabell and Richard Bissell at his office. Earlier, Rusk
had talked to President Kennedy, who told Rusk that the air strikes were to be
called off unless there were "over-riding considerations". Cabell and
Bissell presented their case for the air strikes to Secretary Rusk. Rusk called
the President and relayed their pleas for reinstating the air strikes. Rusk
concluded in his presentation to JFK, that the air strikes were important, but
there were no over-riding considerations. The president agreed with Rusk. Then Rusk
asked Cabell if he wanted to speak to the President. Cabell, recognizing that
the President was the Commander in Chief, and had said no. When the ultimate
leader has said no twice, there is no reason to ask again. [20]

However, Prouty wasn't
finished. After a call from the CIA commander at PuertoCabezas urging Prouty to call General Cabell
at Operation Zapata to order the release of the planes to bomb the Cuban jets,
using OSO/OSD authority. General Cabell wasn't in. "After that call, I
reached the CIA's Zapata office and suggested they release the B-26's "on
Kennedy's orders" or the whole effort would fail." [21]

The person speaking to
Prouty said that it was in the hands of McGeorge Bundy, Secretary Rusk, and
General Cabell. Invoking JFK's name with no authority to do so could perhaps
have had serious consequences for Prouty. Fortunately for him, his ruse was
rebuffed. It is remarkable that Prouty never addressed that his attempt to
infuse the U.S. further into the Bay of Pigs fiasco would have been an act of
war against Cuba. This attempt occurred at the very time that the actions of
the United States vis-a-vis Cuba were being closely scrutinized at the United
Nations meetings. The expectancy of the CIA and the military was that American
air support could be called upon to insure the success of the mission. Prouty
had never seemed to reconcile that the CIA had vastly underestimated the
support the Cuban people had for Castro.

The TFX Decision

Eisenhower had wished to
delay a large aircraft purchase so that he could end his last year with a
budget surplus; thus the purchase could be arranged under the new President
Nixon. The new president of course had a different last name. Thus it fell to
JFK to be in a position to award a huge peace military project. Secretary of
Defense McNamara then added the navy's procurement money to the Air Force's
money, adding up to 6.5 billion dollars. This was the largest procurement ever
during peacetime; both JFK and McNamara were aware that such a project could
pave the way to JFK's being re-elected in 1964. Secretary of Labor Arthur
Goldberg joined

JFK and McNamara in
mapping the United States down to the County level. Their approach was to find
the proposal that would allow tipping the areas who voted Republican in the
1960 presidential election by bringing the work for the TFX to those counties,
to insure a Kennedy re-election. On the other hand, the military system had
gone through their "normal"selection process, spending an estimated 275,000 man hours. [22] The
view of most military personnel involved in the process were reasonably sure
Boeing would win the contract. The General Dynamics/Gruman proposal would give
a more favorable result at the ballot box. In the end, the contract was awarded
to General Dynamics/Gruman. The old military-industrial "team"
members were livid with the decision. The decision making process on military
expenditures had been taken out of their hands. It only got worse from the military-industrial
perspective; Roswell Gilpatric, a New York banker, who was McNamara's deputy,
announced at a banker's convention on April 9, 1963, the new Kennedy position,
"I have not the slightest doubt that our economy could adjust to a decline
in defense spending." [23]

Four Decisive National
Security Action Memoranda (NSAM)

After the embarrassment
of the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy appointed a Cuban Study Group. This group
included General Maxwell Taylor, who had retired after differences with
President Eisenhower over the strength of the army; Admiral Arleigh Burke, who
had been involved with the military planning of the Bay of Pigs; CIA Director,
Allen Dulles; and Bobby Kennedy. General Taylor asked many questions of Dulles
and Burke. When the study group concluded, Taylor wrote a letter to President
Kennedy with recommendations that became NSAM #55, NSAM #56, and NSAM #57. [24]
NSAM #55 had a key element. The Joint Chiefs of Staff was to replace the CIA as
his advisor in peacetime. That NSAM was sent only to the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, General Lyman L. Lemnitzer. Typically, such a memorandum would
have gone to the Secretary of Defense, with copies to the Secretary of State
and to the Director of the CIA. [25] So what happened to the recommendation
that the joint chiefs of staff replace the CIA as the advisor to the President
in peacetime? In a word, the military as represented by the Joint Chiefs Staff
saw such an arrangement as being outside the parameters they were able or
willing to work in. Their business was war, not peace. NSAM #56 & #57
fleshed out how these paramilitary operations might be conducted. [26] Also, on
July 11, 1961, President Kennedy created the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
as a means to reduce the importance of the CIA. [27]

NSAM #263 Contains 10
subparts. Subpart 2 has garnered the most interest. It states: "The
objectives of the United States with respect to the withdrawal of U.S. military
personnel remain as statedin the White
House statement of October 2, 1963." [28] President Kennedy directed that
no formal announcement be made of the implementation of plans to withdraw 1,000
U.S. military personnel by the end of 1963. [29] Further, it was JFK's plan to
remove all U.S. personnel out of Vietnam by the end of 1965. [30]

An Amazingly Fast Extra
Edition of the Christchurch Star

Prouty happened to have
been dispatched to Christchurch, New Zealand, just before November 22, 1963.
JFK's shooting in Dealey Plaza occurred at 12:30 P.M. (7:30 A.M. on November 23,
Christchurch time). Before noon, Christchurch time (before 5PM Dallas time
10/22/1963) the Christchurch Star had
an Extra on the streets covering the assassination. Reported were news items
filed by on the spot reporters, who reported Senator Ralph Yarborough saying at
least two shots came from his right rear, which did not correspond to the 6th
floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building. Automatic weapons were
reported. What is most amazing is the detail reported in the Christchurch Star and on the streets
before 5 P.M. Dallas time. Included was a fine studio portrait photograph of
Oswald in a business suit, white shirt and tie.Details of his defection to the Soviet Union, his activities in the
Soviet Union, his return to the U. S. with his wife and child, his having been
a chairman of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, were all sent on the wires by
both the Associated Press (AP) and the British United Press (BUP). [31] The
paperreported all of this information
and was on the street over two hours before Oswald was charged with the murder
of J.D. Tippet (7:10 P.M. Dallas time). Oswald was not formally arraigned for
the murder of President Kennedy until 1:30 A.M.. over 7 hours after the
newspaper hit the streets in Christchurch. [32] One wonders just how a dossier
is prepared and circulated around the globe about a virtually unknown person in
such a small time frame!

Pulling This all
Together

Prouty gives us insight
into the why of the JFK assassination. Much of the why deals with that a
continued Kennedy presidency (i.e., elected for a second term in 1964)
presented to several interested parties their specific issues. For the CIA,
there was the threat of JFK either eliminating or emasculating the agency.
President Kennedy had already tried to reduce their influence (and perhaps
their budget) through NSAM #55. The war in Vietnam was pretty much a CIA
operation. During President Kennedy's tenure, military advisors had been added,
but NSAM #263 would scale this back by 1,000 men in December 1963, and perhaps
remove all personnel by the end of 1965. The CIA's "raising hell" in
Vietnam would be over. The Christchurch
Star's remarkably quick printing of the news about a suspect who hadn't
even been charged was indeed remarkable. Whatever the CIA's involvement, they
would be a prime suspect for getting Oswald's dossier to the AP and BUP so
quickly.

The military surely had
their quarrels with JFK. Perhaps most notable was their displeasure with the
TFX decision wherein the Kennedy administration ignored the nearly unanimous
preference for Boeing by the military, and the awarding of the 6.5 billion
dollar contract to General Dynamics-Gruman, using the awarding process to
advance JFK's chances for re-election. The Joint Chiefs of Staff were often at
loggerheads with President Kennedy, but arguably, such is the process of a
democracy. Certain individualsmay have
had strong grievances with the President. The military controlled the autopsy
at Bethesda; [33] the autopsy would have been conducted in Dallas without the
intervention of the secret service, who, along with the Presidential party removed
President Kennedy's body against the strong demands of Dr. Rose to conduct a
legal autopsy in Dallas. [34] Though Prouty was impressed with the Report from Iron Mountain; even though
he admits that it was a novel by Leonard Lewin, he still seems to consider that
there was such a study group, started in August 1963, perhaps by Secretary
McNamara. [35]. Prouty often quotes from it at length. In that the Report
concludes with the recommendation of a continued war economy, even in
peacetime, the Report likely resonated with military leaders in the 60's and
70's (and probably even today). However, President Kennedy seemed to be looking
to a peace dividend, thus significantly reducing the military budget (see [22]).

The
sector that had the most to lose with the JFK presidency was the defense
related industries. They were thwarted by the handling of the TFX contract,
which the Kennedy administration was using political efficacy rather than the
"normal" processes of awarding contracts. But the future of a Kennedy
administration was much more daunting, from the defense industries perspective.
Kennedy appeared to looking toward a peace dividend in future spending, and
apparently ending the Vietnam conflict without the billions of dollars that
such a continuance could (and did) entail. There were fortunes to be made, or
left on the table. Those in the war business had become accustomed to calling
the shots. Likely they were involved with calling another kind of shot.

Notes.

1. Prouty, L.F. (1973). The SecretTeam: The CIA and its
Allies in Control of the United States

and the
World. New York: Prentice-Hall.

2.
Prouty, L.F. (2011). The CIA, Vietnam,
and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy. Dover, DE: Skyhorse Publishing. Originally published in
1996 by Carol Publishing Group, New York.

3. Ibid.,
pp. 10-11.

4.
Ibid., p. 45.

5.
Ibid., p. 18.

6.
Ibid., pp. 56-57.

7.
Ibid., pp. 32-37.

8.
Ibid., facing p. 60.

9.
Special Study Group (1967). Report from
Iron Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace. New York: Dial Press.

10.
Ibid., p. 84.

11.
Lewin, L.C. (1996). Report from Iron
Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace. New York: The Free
Press, p. 106.

1 comment:

53 years ago the Mafia and America's corrupt government murdered President Kennedy. In this explosive new book I prove these dark forces did in fact assassinate President Kennedy on 11/22/1963. This 351 page book has over 100 photographs and countless links insuring you will be convinced Harvey Oswald was what he claimed and that was he was in fact just a patsy. This fascinating new book hopefully will force our fascist government to, release all the countless documents their hiding under NATIONAL SECURITY before the 2039 deadline they now cling to...WAKE UP!PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!SEND THIS LINK TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW NOW!I'VE SENT DONALD TRUMP A COPY OF THIS E-BOOK AND WANT HIM TO RE-OPEN THE JFK ASSASSINATION INVESTIGATION...﻿http://www.lulu.com/shop/rick-thorne/americas-tragic-coup-d-etat-exposed/ebook/product-22929665.html﻿